A blog for English learners and their teachers everywhere, initiated in 2010 with the contribution of students from the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. More about me on the On-line Profile below. Welcome!

Emily Casriel, Head of Editorial Partnerships and special projects for BBC World Service Group, gives a detailed account of her project Take 10 animation in a blog post published a month ago.

This project involves MA student animators from the Animation Department at the University of the West of England (UWE), who were given a great challenge: to animate 10 one-minute audio clips, inspired by 10 inspirational stories from BBC World Service.

Here is how

Student animators get creative with one minute World Service stories

Take the harrowing tale of being hauled in front of Islamic student activists in Iran, the search for an elusive bird in East Africa or the first-person experience of a child soldier. Hack each complex and rich story to precisely one minute. Now present those 60-second tales to a bunch of student animators and ask them to draw upon their wildest creative imagination to craft films that are so full of personality that they will engage people across the world.

When I visited the Animation Department at the University of the West of England UWE to meet its MA students, I was presenting them with a demanding challenge. As I played the one-minute audio clips, drawn from a range of BBC World Service output, the animators listened intently with furrowed brows and occasional smiles.

The students were already visualising how they could bring to life an attractive story while plotting how they could wriggle out of being assigned the toughest stories. Who would be tasked with imagining the story of a corrosive Soviet town and who would have fun bringing to life the wine-loving bear?

I first developed the partnership with the University of West of England (UWE) two years ago, when it was already clear that animating audio was an effective way to engage audiences which might not already be consuming BBC News content. Bethan Jinkinson from BBC World Service Digital was excited to collaborate on this project because of its potential to showcase and share the richness of our audio offer.

Research with the BBC’s Global Minds panel indicated that audiences liked snacking on content. The combination of factual content with a creative treatment seems to be attractive, perhaps because it engages both sides of our brain. Sharing something intelligent, yet still accessible, makes people look informed in front of their peers, which in turn drives viral success.

The search for a rare East African bird inspired animator Thomas Porras.

The BBC is increasingly experimenting with animated audio – from Omar’s Journey which depicts the journey of a teenage refugee in the Jungle in Calais based upon his own drawings, to The Today Programme animating the news. When I used to run the ideas discussion show The Forum I even experimented by personally animating its 60 second idea.

I sought out UWE in Bristol as it is renowned for its creative flair and enjoys links to some of the most successful animation companies in the world, such as the local Aardman studios, home of Wallace and Gromit. Back in 2014, we collaborated with Chris Webster, the course leader, and his second year BA students to produce an animation based on a BBC World Service Outlook interview about Antarctica, saunas and naked running. Truly.

There were many exchanges over the tiniest of details from the texture of the sky (richer and more artistic) to permissible nudity (bottoms acceptable, full frontal not). I learned that the students needed to be encouraged to fly free of a too literal interpretation of the spoken word, while still keeping to the spirit of the message. This knowledge was useful when I briefed the graduate students this year for our more fully fledged partnership.

My follow-up visit to the MA students was exciting if a little daunting for all of us. The students, who had been attracted to the course from across the world – from Vietnam to Venezuela – were now on the cusp of exposing their creative imagination to an external client for the very first time, awaiting judgement on the first ‘draft’ of their one-minute masterpieces.

From the moment the first film was shown on the screen, I could see that the MA students were in a different league to their BA counterparts. Yet I was a little confused by seeing a set of wooden films with little movement. The students patiently explained to me that the animatic wasn’t the finished film, merely a moving sketch book.

They had all put tremendous energy into researching the world behind their one minute clips. Michail Gkialas Fikaris had watched numerous YouTube videos of his beatboxing subject (above) to understand not only the artist but also the beatboxing culture.

Linh Nguyen had drawn upon a Japanese vintage aesthetic to animate the story of a robot (above) which was born the moment its mother unwrapped the packaging. Not content with the audio narrative that I had presented to her, she had inserted an angry unicorn with a murderous laser beam as a visual sub plot. This burst of creativity led to a discussion about the importance of a visual narrative that would complement rather than compete with the audio. Linh’s finished animation sticks a little more faithfully to the audio clip, though it is still full of visual jokes reflecting her subversive originality.

I was also impressed with how Nagore Rementeria Muriel used stark black and white graphic images and negative space to create a tense atmosphere in her depiction of fear in revolutionary Iran (above). She built a 3D model of an Iranian man to rotate for the animation, and scribbled intimidating anonymous figures.

Hannah Stevens had enlisted the help of her six year old cousin to imagine the two headed purple mutants of a fabled Soviet town, and then drew on World War Two propaganda films to create a cinematic atmosphere (above).

And it was fantastic to see some stop motion animation in the mix with Sasha Lawrence’s story of the first legal inter-racial marriage in South Africa. Sasha took plywood and plaster to create a three tiered wedding cake (above) and found a 1980s Jet Magazine picture of the couple online to inspire her creation of the bride and groom puppets.

At the end of our session together, tutor Chris Webster told his students that one of the most valuable lessons of this partnership was to understand the mindset of a client and the likelihood that they wouldn’t understand the animating process. He is committed to helping his students not only develop their own voice – all of the animations are highly individual – but also equip them with skills that will enable them to succeed in the world of deadlines and client demands.

I am excited to share these jewels with our worldwide audience by publishing them on the BBC website, broadcasting them on BBC World News and seeing reactions as we share these films on a whole range of social media platforms. I hope that people around the world will appreciate the thought and inventiveness that has gone into these richly layered treats and feel tempted to find out more.

The animations are available on the BBC News website, BBC World News and across social media.

Many of the sayings we use daily were first coined by Aristotle (384-BC – 322 BC).

His studies in living the Good Life (nothing to do with Felicity Kendall looking seductive in dungarees and wellies) included advice like; moderation in all things, friends are worth more than gold and one swallow doesn’t make a summer. Fair enough, but how can we stop just quoting him and start living Aristotle’s Good Life?Much of his thinking seems surprisingly contemporary. He covers mindfulness, the value of teachers (his habit of wandering around the grounds of the school he founded, the Lyceum, in Athens, with his pupils trotting after him, led his pupils to be referred to as ‘the peripatetics”, or “people who travel about”) and the difficulties of adolescence.

1. Value your friends

“For without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods.”

2. Keep learning

Aristotle considered happiness to come more often from “those who are highly cultivated in their minds and in their character, and have only a moderate share of external goods, than among those who possess external goods to a useless extent but are deficient in higher qualities.” So that’s something to bear in mind when you go over your overdraft limit.

3. Reward yourself for overcoming personal struggles

“I count him braver who overcomes his desires than him who conquers his enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.”

4. Value teachers

The mean-spirited phrase ‘those that can, do. Those that can’t, teach” is a corruption of Aristotle’s ‘those that know, do. Those that understand, teach.” Aristotle saw happiness, fulfilment and a sense of civic duty all arising from education, and felt that “those who educate children well are more to be honoured than parents, for these only gave life, those the art of living well.”

5. Do it, don’t just talk about it

Actions speak louder than words. “Virtue is more clearly shown in the performance of fine actions than in the non-performance of base ones.”

6. Practise mindful meditation

A thought is just a thought. It doesn’t need to be acted upon. “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”

7. And finally…

Aristotle’s ultimate, and most difficult realisation. “Happiness depends upon ourselves.”

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Like most students, Millenials or otherwise, mine love to stay current & be able to discuss the latest trends, so here’s a Think & Read three-pack I came up with to help the discussion flow & connect present to future technologically as well as linguistically. The texts below are taken from Content Loop, one of our latest favourites here at the ELB.

1

THINK about your TOP 3 most annoying habits people have connected with technology in your opinion (like spending time checking the phone during face-to-face meetings) and think of ways people should/could change those habits.

READ this article on technology etiquette for the emerging generation, write down any tricky words, phrases & questions you might have for further discussion.

2

THINK about the specific traits of our generation, the Millennials. (In what ways are we different from other generations?)

READ this article on how to grab the attention of Millenials via email and compare your ideas against the ideas presented in the text. Would you read mails written in the styles suggested in the text? Which style(s) would you find more appealing? Why? Why not? Be ready to speak your mind on the issues you find most relevant to you, your life & living today.

3

THINK about the type of content/topics/styles/genres you like to read about and describe it/them briefly. Then try to analyse why you are attracted to these types of content?

READ this text about the link between viral content and emotional intelligence. What do you agree and disagree with, and why?

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 6,900 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 12 years to get that many views.

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A little while ago I got this lovely message from my former Jagiellonian student, Patrycja, which brought back wonderful memories of my first year of teaching English in Poland (2006-2007).

Hey, Famous Alina! 😀I haven’t heard from you for a long time and lately, I don’t know why, the thought of you keeps popping in my head. So, because I am a fond reader of Coelho’s books, and because I have been your student , I feel like I need to tell you (write to you would be more accurate :P) that you have been one of these people who really and truly inspired me. I am pretty sure it may seem funny and bit chaotic, but sometimes the world gives you signs and I think I am having a sign that I should assure you that you are an inspiring person! So I hope everything is excellent in your life. 🙂Hugs!

Most definitely one of the most inspiring students I have had the pleasure of teaching, Patrycja is an extremely resourceful person, brimming with optimism and enthusiasm, with a confessed love for English language, and a passion for sharing her knowledge in this field.

In her second year as a Law student at the Jagiellonian University where we met, she set out to organise an English camp for the young students she was privately tutoring at that time, and invited me to join her in what looked like a pioneering summer adventure. I happily agreed, and what followed was an experience to be remembered. From the location – a wonderful little mansion in the picturesque village of Marcowka, the general atmosphere to the tailored daily activities and the last day festivities, the English camp organised by Patrycja in 2007 was a great success. Personally, I may add, Marcowka is the birthplace of one of my favourite poems from my debut book of poetry, which you can read here.

The memory of this first camp experience on Polish soil 🙂 is all the more dear to me at this time, a few days before starting on a new adventure with yet another English camp, this time organised by the Kliny English Courses School in Bieszczady. I will be back with photos, new memories and impressions from the camp in July.

In the meantime, there is room for celebration, as Kliny English Courses, the school I have been cooperating with since 2011, celebrates twenty years of excellence in English language teaching in Krakow.

Before I mention them to you, remember a great place for history in pictures: the BBC News World’s Day in Pictures, which you could top up with readings of various post you find interesting on The Editors’ blog – a site where the editors from across BBC News share their dilemmas and issues.

First on today’s list are the photo galleries featuring the major events of 2010 organised by or with the support of the American Consulate in Krakow throughout Poland, which will appear on the Consulate website in December. You can look for them in the multimedia section under photo galleries. These visual memories of the past year include both sad and happy occurrences: the state funeral of President Lech Kaczynski and First Lady Maria Kaczynska, the 65th Anniversary of Auschwitz-Birkenau Camp Liberation, the Feininger Photo Exhibit, the visits of Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and American astronauts as well as many others. Enjoy!

Second, check out my Facebook album, India 7×7, which contains a personal selection of photos taken by others and myself during my 7 weeks in India. They are organised according to conceptual criteria that I invite you to discover. No worries, I added captions that will (hopefully be enough to) cue you in. 😀 I’ll be back with more updates, hopefully by the end of this year! 🙂

The third set of (less) pictures within (more) patches of text that I recommend to you come from Natalie John’s blog. Natalie John is one of the finest young talents to emerge in recent years in the highly competitive and world class New York Jazz scene. A native of Marin County, California, Natalie was classically trained at a very young age. She was soon drawn towards Jazz and joined the music program at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She currently teaches vocal classes at SAM, the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music in India. If you asked me how she spends the rest of her time in India I would say that after classes she enjoys discovering India, hanging out with the rest of the SAM faculty, including me, wonders at the beauty of the sky and likes to hum while making coffee. 😀

Here they all are, her posts from India, so far, chronologically ordered below:

Over the next few months The Economist will be featuring the best contributions in the main section of this site, alongside those of the leading personalities already featured like movie director Claudia Llosa, musician Jamie Lidell and Spotify founder Daniel Ek.